But when they pass infinity, where do they go?
What is beyond the edge of the universe?
But a question like that contradicts the known laws of physics, just as it'd make little sense to ask what's beyond the end of time, or what's before the start of time.
What's beyond the end of time?
What's before the start of time?
Where's beyond the end of time?
When's beyond the end of space?
Humans perceive the world through two dimensional images with the capability of inferring depth, granting them the view of three dimensional space.
They move within this space over the course of time, and to them they perceive their movements as moving their positions in space, as if they are no longer present in the initial space.
Consider a film strip, where each and every frame of a sequence exists in one present when laid out on a table. Only when it's fed through a reel and broadcasted does it appear that there is a single environment, a single panel in which motion occurs, it is only when viewing through this specific lens does the illusion of movement occur.
But it is not moving.
For every frame before the one currently broadcasted still remains to exist.
For every frame after the one currently broadcasted already exists.
Only when viewed outside the broadcast can this truth be made.
For a character in a film is themselves unaware that they exist in every frame.
For a character in a film is themselves unaware that there are other strips of film on the same shelf.
For a character in a film is themselves unaware of the forces that have created them.
If the world within the film strip is infinite, how does its frame fit within a strip of other frames housing samely infinite worlds?
If the world within the film strip is infinite, how does it fit amongst other film strips?
If the world that house the film strips is infinite, how does it fit amongst other worlds that house film strips?
How does that collection of worlds housing film strips fit amongst other collections of worlds?
To produce each frame of a film strip, a single set of tools may be reused, the same cameras, pens, paper. Each frame is constructed with similar resources under similar processes, and so there is no reason for them to not share tools.
What tools are shared within the world of the film strip?
Multiple film strips may similarly be produced using the same tools, again cameras, pens, paper. They may contain a different world with a different story, yet the resources required are similar as is the process of construction.
What tools are shared within the world housing film strips?
What tools are shared within the collection of worlds that each house film strips?
What tools are shared within the batch of collections of worlds that each house film strips?
What tools can produce infinity?
What tools can produce infinities of infinity?
Where do these tools reside?
Do they reside within the infinities themselves?
Or do they reside beyond infinity?
Beyond every infinity?
Where is beyond infinity?
When is beyond infinity?
What is beyond infinity?
Beyond the bark of pulsating white light, that infinite tree can itself be observed, its trunk standing in an abyss of incomprehensible moving blobs of white and black. Standing atop the trunk of the white tree is the silhouette of Meditat, defined by the sculpting of the boots, belt, but most specifically his face which animates to reveal a perplexed expression. However his suit isn't made of the same physical fabrics nor his face made of skin, but rather his entire body seems made from a luminescent azure material, light though dim enough for detailing of his face to be observed. His hair waves like his cape, strands that diminish at their edges, like strings of light that dissipate further from the source. His head lowers to the white trunk below his feet before taking a steady step forward, gently placing his left foot ahead, able to oddly feel a sense of presence when reaching the tree, one that affirms him the confidence to let the foot rest as it remains supported on the tree. He glances at his hands, noticing that most of his suit remains on him except for the crystals on his knuckles, leading him to check his shoulders and shins to also find that lack of material. What's more, the pencil insignia on his chest blends with the light, effectively making it absent, same as any of the streaks that would course throughout his body.
Raising his head, he finds himself surrounded in a void of unintelligible white and black blobs, but before he can focus on them he hears the voice of Exitium ask from behind him, "Meditat?"
Turning around, Meditat finds Exitium facing back at him, or at least the silhouette of Exitium, the suit maintaining its general shapes with defined boots and gauntlets, though it lacks the chains around the neck and arms. His body is made of a crimson light material too, one that obscures the eraser emblem and any of the streaks that grow from it. His facial expressions can also be read as bewildered, and he too sports a cape and hair made of strands, though his hair extends for longer before fading.
Then another voice speaks, the ominous voice of the Fallen who declares in a relieved tone: "We're finally here." Both Exitium and Meditat immediately turn towards the source of the voice coming from up the tree with sharp glares, Meditat bending his body in a pose ready to fight.
What they face down the white tree is the third figure, but it's not the silhouette of the armored brute they've faced as the Fallen, rather a humanoid similar to them, one whose body is dressed in pure black wrappings like a mummy, end strands hanging off and flowing in a nonexistent wind. The wrappings don't completely cover the body, as there's slits of space between them which let a dark green light bleed through. Some of the head is covered but the back is left mostly open to free long hair that drapes down to the floor like a cape, the hair a gradient as the top half is dark green and the bottom is black.
The Fallen faces straight up the tree where it splits into boughs in all directions, but among those white boughs are ones purely black, interwoven with the white tree. At the center of the boughs protrudes a single stem hanging up, though the stem isn't white nor black but instead made of a gray glassy material, hanging off by itself like a sapling.
Meditat stares down at the Fallen before extending his hand forward, trying to produce a flame to construct a weapon. This time however, not even fire emits from the hand, nothing does, leaving him just holding his hand out aimlessly.
Chuffing at the lack of power, Meditat clenches his fists and makes a pose ready to charge, only for the Fallen to gently explain: "You're beyond the concepts that'd allow you to harm me, just as I'm unable to do the same to you."
Meditat doesn't change his sharp glare nor his aggressive pose, instead yelling back in demand: "Where did you bring us? What is this? Another one of those 'dimensions?'"
Turning away from what lies ahead, the Fallen faces Meditat and Exitium, revealing its face to be covered with those same wrappings, concealing the eyes and mouth.
It shakes its head, still able to speak as the jaw moves as it corrects: "No, it's not just another dimension. We're beyond that now. We're beyond all of it now. Spatium Ultra Rem. The space beyond reality. I'm unsure who the last visitor here was, though I'm sure the only one possible during the course of this reality would've been your father before he divided his power. Perhaps if I glanced at the reflections the moment we arrived I'd be able to see the last visitor, but it's too late now."
His aggressive stance begins to soften as confusion takes him over, but Meditat keeps his fists closed as he simply asks, "Reflections?"
Its hands open, the Fallen raises its right hand to point past Meditat, and so for a moment Meditat breaks his glare to turn around, following the finger down the other direction of the tree.
The tree's trunk continues for an unknown distance before it seems to split off in several directions, continuing on for some length before three small figures, blue, red and black, past which boughs open up into a circle, connecting with the black boughs of another tree, a black tree, as the boughs connect to its trunk on the side opposite from the white tree. That black trunk continues on the length as the white trunk before the shape distorts further, still black which eventually leads to white before distorting again. Almost all of the refractions contain figures, many of them having the same three: blue, red, and black.
As Meditat raises his head to follow the shapes, they distort until entirely incomprehensible, forming the void that surrounds them, resembling the effect of a kaleidoscope in the warping that entirely distorts the refractions.
Staring at those refractions, Meditat raises his eyebrow, his aggressive tone softening as curiosity takes over, for he hadn't even noticed the blobs below him were a part of the reflections. His pose remains low but he asks earnestly: "What are those other trees? What is this…tree?"
Dropping its arm to its side, the Fallen answers passively, "You're standing on the Exforce tree right now, the source of all Exforce in reality. Those refractions aren't other Exforce trees, there's only one in all existence, just as there's only one Wyforce tree that you see on the other side, just as there's only one reality. Those refractions are just that, mirages of previous instances in this field. The compression to allow us to perceive this space will cause those distortions, but it's necessary for us to exist here. These trees are infinite in radius, so seeing the edge should be impossible. We're beyond time, so this interaction is taking place over an infinite amount of those refractions, moments of our outer existence, but we perceive it all as motion right here."
Befuddled further, Meditat straightens his posture and tilts his head before wondering, "Wait…there's a single tree but multiple instances…of the tree?"
Shaking its head again, the Fallen admits: "It's a paradox, you can lose yourself in thoughts trying to justify it all. You can stare at your own refractions and try to find the ones past yourself now, it's all here. But there's a far more interesting construct here, you're welcome to come look. We may never return here again."
It then turns around and begins strolling towards the boughs, walking with manual steps one after the other.
Left behind, Meditat just stands beside Exitium, turning to face him, still trying to process everything around him. Only moments ago they were locked in a fight to the death, yet now their opponent appears so calm, the atmosphere has entirely changed in an instant.
Curiosity ultimately taking control, Meditat loosens his hands and follows after the Fallen, leading Exitium to do the same while his eyes continue to wander around.
The two walk towards the Fallen leading them to the bough nest of the white tree, which is entangled with the black boughs of the black tree that continue on in the other direction until refracting into several directions, continuing on and on until becoming entirely incoherent blobs, the blue, red, and black figures present in many of those refractions, though some are merely a white and black figure. The two trees stand mirroring each other perfectly, one facing right and the other left, one facing up and the other down, the pillars of reality.
Keeping a safe distance from what he still identifies as the enemy despite its changed attitude, Meditat follows the Fallen up to the massive boughs sphere, noticing that while its nest is fairly dense, there's an opening leading from the trunk inside. The Fallen steps through this opening shaped in an arc like a doorway, entering an enclosed space like a room, featuring a floor of thinner branches black and white which are knit close enough that they can be safely walked on.
Entering the doorway first, Meditat follows before Exitium, and upon stepping inside the dome of white and black branches, his head lowers to make cautious steps, initially unsure about the integrity of the branches. But as he takes his first steady steps, he's assured that he can walk over it. Facing down, he can see the lower half of the boughs sphere, and past its gaps is the void.
Raising his head back up, Meditat watches the Fallen step around the center of the room, revealing a construct at its center, raised up by a thick stand of tightly intertwined branches from the floor, sitting just above them. The construct itself is made of tightly knit branches that form individual layers stacked atop each other like a wafer, forming a shape perceived as many times wider than those observing it. The construct is just a shape like a cube, though made of far more sides, yet the strangest property of the cube is that it's constantly sliding in on itself, as if clipping into its own shape, revealing new sides that then vanish to reveal others, so much that it's impossible to count how many sides there are.
Exitium enters the room, infatuated similarly by the construct as Meditat steps to the side. They both stare at the shape, its clipping entrancing them.
Staring at the same shape, the Fallen simply states: "That's reality. All of it. Every side is a dimension, every layer is a universe. Of course this is infinitely large, again, without perceptive compression we'd be unable to observe it."
It then turns past the shape to find another arched doorway leading to the black trunk, just as wide and long as the white trunk.
While the Fallen aimlessly stares down the black tree, Meditat observes the shape of reality before commenting in a gentle mutter, "It's…beautiful."
The Fallen sighs before admitting, "I'll allow you to admire its shape for a moment before I start the process."
That's when Meditat's attention slides back to the Fallen and a hint of unease swells within him as he suspiciously asks, "The…process?"
Breathing another sigh, the Fallen raises its head up before lowering it straight and turning around.
Turning to face Meditat, the Fallen places its hands behind its back and realizes, "Right, now that we're here, I can finally be upfront with everything. In fact, I have yet to properly introduce myself, I am Kourevo. I know there's a lot about me that you don't know, and that's a shame, but I'd rather we have that conversation another time, there's much to you two that I don't know either. I've only observed the two of you briefly, though I'll say I truly was astounded to see who you two have become."
"Meditat Viatorem," Kourevo specifies, raising Meditat's attention with a puzzled head tilt, "I admittedly was confused at first by your actions, but as I observed you more I came to understand and commend your lofty ideals. I would've never thought a product of your father would lend itself to someone who'd be so adamant on protecting everyone, even going as far as to avoid attempting to kill me, despite the amusement of that statement. You truly are a hero in the simplest definition."
Lifting his head, Kourevo stares at reality while recounting, "And yet…you are simultaneously the perfect exhibition of your father's obtuse ideals. Yes, you protect and are championed by the people around you, but that's only within a miniscule domain you've confined yourself to. Furthermore, I've watched you struggle to maintain even that short of a space, spending half of your lifetime diffusing a conflict between those very people you aim to protect. Then again, I commend you for working within the universe your father messily scraped together, removing his senseless creatures and artifacts, but his worst sin of all is his replication of Exforce Warriors as what you labeled 'Exhumans,' forcing permanent connections onto untrained humans and igniting a war that won't end for as long as they exist. It's unfortunate that they were made as sinners against their will."
That reminder ignites a glare in Meditat's eyes, his aggression returning as he bellows, "You're pitying all the people you killed?! Don't talk about them like a problem to be destroyed, sure conflicts arose but we had peace! They were people, people who agreed to work with each other to make civilization work, that's humanity! That isn't a problem! And there were heroes among them too, people who saved others, Exhumans and not! How are you going to praise me, an Exhuman, while calling them all sinners?!"
That last question prompts Kourevo to face Meditat and tilt his head. He then makes a sound like a chuff, or perhaps even a chuckle, before straightening his head and recalling, "Right, because you believe yourself to be another Exhuman, I forgot what a terrible jest that was. Neither of you two are Exhumans, did your father truly instill such an idiotic lie within you? To think he gave the ultimate power of the Exforce to you two and completely underhanded your potential is a feat only your father would pull."
Once again Kourevo faces reality, staring at the clipping shape while correcting, "You two were created to protect all of reality, and the best one of you can do is a single solar system. I haven't spoken about Exitium Viatorem, but there's little to speak of."
Exitium stares at Kourevo who states, "You have attempted nothing of value throughout your existence," to which Exitium just frowns with a hanging jaw, lowering his gaze and taking a step back, unable to even argue back. He falls to his knees by the doorway to the white tree, staring at the branches beneath him.
Still facing reality, Kourevo sighs and shakes his head, but he then praises, "I say this all harshly, Meditat, but only so you understand the problem inflicting the current shape of reality. I'm sure now that your father would not have spoken of the reality he came from, otherwise it'd contradict all his ideals. For he came from a reality with a singular dimension, and within that a singular universe, in fact one where life only existed within a finite region. In that sense, you have already taken on the responsibility of protecting a far larger population than what existed in his reality. And within that region, no being was forcefully given permanent abilities, they had the freedom to find their own. Of course it wasn't a perfect reality, it was plagued with the Eternal War that ultimately gave way to its annihilation, but it lacked any overarching guardian. Perhaps once you reach your potential, you'd even be capable of safekeeping a reality like that."
At last, Kourevo turns to face Meditat before ultimately declaring, "Which is why I've brought us here to reshape reality into that simplified form. Meditat, Exitium, your powers cannot be wasted on such an insignificant portion of reality, but to demand you to spread your reach across such insurmountable space is a burden nobody could bear. It'd be impossible, even for me."
To that declaration, Meditat stares horrified, his jaw dropped from the implications of that statement. Implications he immediately brings up suspiciously: "But what about everyone currently alive? Are you going to somehow fit them all into this one single universe? How would that work?"
Staring back for a few moments blankly, Kourevo simply turns away to face reality before bluntly answering, "You're fixating on the minor details, it won't matter by the time we finish and re-enter."
Blinking twice, Meditat steps forward before realizing, "No, you're going to have them all die, aren't you? You're not just destroying space, you're destroying everyone within it. You'd be killing all those people, you can't just do that!"
"Meditat," Kourevo lectures as he returns to face Meditat, "You hadn't known people beyond your solar system existed until I showed you. You were perfectly content in your own bubble as they all faced their own conflicts and tragedies, it's unreasonable for you to now bring issue."
Waving his hand, Meditat refutes aggressively with another step forward: "No, you can't just handwave that away like that, they're still people with their own lives, even if I personally don't know them that doesn't at all affect their inherent value!"
Growling under the wrappings as his hand curls in irritation, Kourevo takes a step towards Meditat before berating, "Do you understand the concept of infinity? Every moment of time, infinitely more people than those in the Superverse system die, and an infinite amount of them die due to a tragedy that could've been prevented with your aid! By allowing this mess of a reality to persist, you are allowing infinitely more people to die! Are you truly content with neglecting that? Have I misunderstood your morality?"
"No!" Meditat shouts back with another step forward, though he then pauses for a moment, huffing and thinking, his anger melting as he reflects on himself. He takes a step back with a frown, shaking his head and reflecting, "I mean…that's horrible too…they should be protected…I didn't know about any of this but maybe now I can-."
"Don't begin that path of thought, it's impossible and you'll only hate yourself for it," Kourevo interrupts before turning around and slowly strolling back towards reality to enact his plan.
Meditat stumbles another step back, just a little in front of Exitium who remains on his knees. Breathing heavily in thought, Meditat faces the floor too, trying to conjure a solid rebuttal. Yet whenever he opens his mouth to speak, he pauses upon reconsideration, restructuring his thoughts again. But no matter how much he tries, he can't find the proper refutation, for in truth he cannot in that moment conjure his own solution.
Reaching reality, Kourevo exhausts a sigh before explaining, "I'll have this reality drain and reshape it once it's reduced sufficiently. Once I'm done, we'll be returned to the new reality, and our new lives can begin. We'll enter after about ten billion years past its initialization to allow for the proper conditions. You can resume your life as you see fit, the hero if you please. Regardless, I'll bear the burden of safeguarding this reality, it's one neither of you were built for, and ultimately is my proper purpose. You'll hardly notice a difference in your life."
He then reaches for the bundle of branches risen from the floor, the one upkeeping reality, all as the wrappings around his hands begin to seep dark shadowy tendrils that surround his hands like an aura.
Meditat stands by the exit, just staring at the floor miserably, his face clenched in bitterness towards himself for just remaining passive. Yet part of his mind can't help but find Kourevo's statements to contain a truth to them, one he can't truly refute.
Meditat's ideals were always lofty to an extent, for there was always conflict amongst people, he was thought to have brought a permanent end to the war between Exhumans and humans yet the moment he vanished it reignited immediately and spanned another decade.
Even in the Superverse, he lagged when it came to expanding his reach. For the first decade of his journey as a hero he remained only protecting a single planet, only a hundredth of the full size of the Superverse. To even expand his reach, he had to join The Shield team, and while they did good in helping service other worlds that needed aid, they refrained from touching the Rim, excluding ten worlds, leaving them in their own conflicts. He had recently begun a campaign to save the Rim, successfully dismantling the largest pirate organization, but the primary problem with the Rim's pirate war was the overwhelming quantity of pirate organizations. Furthermore, it's likely that as more would be destroyed, more would pop up in its place, so while he had boldly declared war against the pirates, logistically he's unsure of if it's truly possible to resolve such a conflict.
Even at such a limited scale, Meditat struggled tremendously with protecting the people, and so knowing there's an infinitely larger mass of people in other universes that he's neglecting only further cements his incapabilities. He can declare that he'll protect it all, but what good is it to make such a declaration when he immediately can acknowledge it's nonsense?
If the size of the total population out there is shrunk to a more manageable size, he'd be able to protect them all. He'd be able to save them all.
And yet, for some reason, the thought of agreeing with that fact disgusts him. Not the fact itself, but letting himself align with it. Even still, he can't come up with a proper rebuttal for that statement. Even still, he can't even understand why he despises it so thoroughly to his core.
Even still, he knows he can't stand for it.
As Kourevo grabs the bundle of branches feeding into reality, Meditat roars as he charges straight at him and leaps, grabbing onto the bundle from the other direction, trying to yank it off of Kourevo's grip, who grunts in enraged shock, glaring straight at Meditat.
Raising his head, Exitium's eyes widen in astonishment, having already seemingly given up as he remains on his knees, assuming that their fate has been cemented.
Yet in front of him he watches Meditat wrestle for the branches, pushing against Kourevo in a desperate bid to prevent the annihilation of reality.
Growling through gritted teeth, Meditat uses all the strength he can to break Kourevo's grip, placing his foot on Kourevo's torso in an attempt to kick him back. Growling back, Kourevo's hair begins to start waving higher as if a wind's gracing him exclusively, the ends of his wrappings picking up to.
Then, Kourevo uses his other hand to grab Meditat's, yanking to peel his grip off the branch, succeeding and throwing Meditat into the wall of branches.
Meditat's blue body slams into the wall, though he's quick to recover, standing back up and facing the center of the room to which his eyes widen immediately; he watches as Kourevo, without resistance, rips the bundle of branches out of reality like yanking a cable out of a computer, the tendrils around his hand growing subtly thicker in activation. Sparks white and black flicker off the end of the bundle, and practically immediately he can see the shape of reality begin to glitch more intensely as different sides begin to wither, for the tightly knit branches composing them start to uncoil apart.
In front of him, Meditat witnesses the collapse of reality itself, all as Kourevo berates him with a raised voice: "You have no idea the scale of reality, you have no idea what you're trying to change! Stop, or you'll ruin it for both of us!"
To that sight, Meditat kicks his foot off the wall and charges straight at Kourevo, tackling him once again while releasing a scream unlike any other. He grabs the bundle of branches with both hands and yanks it back under reality as his hands brighten, causing the tops to reconnect into the center, and almost immediately he notices the uncoiling branches begin to bend back, recoiling together to repair the faces.
Noticing the same pause, Kourevo growls back, stomping his foot down on the bundle by the floor, bending it under its sole to angle the rest of the bundle, gaining more control and being able to change his grip for better control to yank it back like a rope, ripping it back out of reality, destabilizing the shape again and causing more layers to snap apart.
Noticing the change in angling, Meditat stomps his foot on Kourevo's, trying to press hard enough to force it out. At the same time he also changes his grip given it angling more horizontally, trying to tug back at it.
Back and forth Meditat and Kourevo tug at the bundle holding reality together like a game of tug of war, fighting to reconnect and disconnect it, wrestling each other as Meditat leans harder on his foot trying to crush Kourevo as Kourevo maintains his hold, trying to overpower Meditat in brute strength.
In irony, neither of the two at this moment have such a thing as physical strength, as their bodies are none other than representative manifestations for the sake of perceiving and navigating this shared space. Neither of them are utilizing muscular power, for such a concept doesn't exist beyond reality.
They aren't fighting with their abilities.
They aren't fighting with their bodies.
Rather, it's a battle of their Cores, their minds, not intellectually but their raw resolve, their individual drive that empowers their connections to their Forces.
Back and forth they tug at the rope holding reality together. With every time Kourevo rips the rope off reality, dimensions begin to come undone, and every time Meditat yanks it back inside, they repair and stabilize.
Kourevo growls as he insists to let reality bleed out, but Meditat screams at the top of his lungs, imbuing all his strength into this one act, clenching the rope as tightly as he can make himself, crushing Kourevo's foot as hard as he can make himself, pulling back with all the power that he can draw into himself.
While his form isn't technically real, his body a mere visual construct for the sake of perception, the flooding determination pouring out of his raging voice is nothing short of genuine.
Miniscule details on the fingers of his gloves are sculptured on his hands that clutch to the bundle of branches, momentarily beginning to slip before reasserting his grasp, moving the branches along with his hands.
Wide with fury, his irises are starry white, shining like flares, scorching like the flames within him.
Planted down, his foot on the floor fights to keep in place, the pillars holding him, for without it he'd lose any of his tenacity. Being pulled by the opposing force, the foot begins to slide forwards, but he raises it and slams it back on the ground to reassert his foundation, declaring its position.
Back and forth the two tug at the ropes, Kourevo's two hands wrapped in black, his hand between the strips shining a dark green light as he tugs in his direction, Meditat's two azure hands sculpted like his gloves radiating as he tugs in his direction.
Under their feet that press down the bundle, the constant tugging seems to begin yanking the rope hard enough that the branches around start to bend, causing them to start snapping off, breaking the floor around the rope. Slowly uprooting the floor causes more of the void underneath to be visible, those infinite refractions of the same two mirroring trees atop which two figures stand, one glassy gray and one both black and white.
Pulling against him, Kourevo chuffs from the freakish strength fighting back before lowering its chin to notice the snapping, grunting in confusion to the sight.
All around the base of the bundle, the branches once making the floor snap, swinging upwards before colliding with the bundle where they automatically begin weaving themselves into the main cable, causing it to thicken rapidly, surrounding both Kourevo's and Meditat's feet as it creates a cone around them, all feeding into the rope.
Both Kourevo and Meditat notice, and they both leap backwards at the same time before they could get stuck in the branches, throwing themselves onto different sides of the room which begins to start flashing chaotically while the base of the stand grows wider.
Landing on the ground, Meditat quickly grabs the floor with his hand and gets in a stance to bounce back to his feet, but before he can, the thickened bundle of branches suddenly soars straight up through reality, penetrating completely through out to the other end where it reaches the ceiling, attaching onto one of the entangled boughs right beneath the glassy sapling.
Just as it makes contact, all of the boughs and smaller branches begin pulsating intensely, prompting both Meditat and Exitium to quickly stand to their feet anxiously.
Meditat stumbles back towards the wall before spinning to find it also pulsating, stumbling away from it. He turns to Exitium who faces him back, both of them sharing that sense of fear, though his attention is spun around after hearing Kourevo's voice simply yell in rage.
Turning around, he watches Kourevo dash straight for reality again, grabbing onto the bundle which is now about double the size, for he's hardly able to wrap his hands around it. He attempts to yank at the rope, yet even without resistance it doesn't budge at all, not even with the effort of both of his hands. He places his foot against the bundle to try ripping it out harder yet to no avail, for it doesn't even bend, it simply remains still.
While still clinging to the rope in a desperate effort to pull it out, the waving ends of the black linen strips wrapping around him begin to extend into tendrils that reach into the black branches of the floor beneath him, not unraveling but rather growing.
He doesn't notice only until it yanks on him, tugging him off of the cable. Grunting angrily, he turns around to find all of the wrappings covering his body extending to the floor, pulling him in. He growls and raises his arms, tugging against the wrappings, fighting to free himself.
Fixated on watching the sight, Meditat is caught off guard when he feels himself yanked back by the neck. He turns around to find his cape getting caught in the white boughs to which his eyes widen in shock, turning to face Exitium to find him caught the same. Exitium turns to him as his entire body begins to start dissolving into individual tendrils that seep into the white branches. Out of desperation, Meditat extends his hand forward to try reaching him, only for his fingers to dissolve into tendrils that fly back into the branches pulling his cape.
In despair, Meditat stares at his own hand as it dissolves, breaking down his arm into tendrils, continuing up to his chest. As his face begins to dissolve, he turns to face reality, unable to do anything but stare at it, stare until his eyes dissolve into tendrils.
After a long and painful journey through the flattened ruins of the Versepolis battleground, Kokei finally reaches the blocks where skyscrapers stand tall, having stood right at the edge of the black tsunami earlier. The entire zone remains a crater in the city, above which is the blue sky where the Supersun lingers over, staring down at the world.
Flying in a bubble of pink electricity, Kokei breathes a sigh of relief and gently descends to the intersection at the vacated street, for by now the evacuated radius of the city has increased, perhaps accelerated more so by that attack.
Dropping near the surface, Kokei dispels the majority of the lightning that was carrying her, though maintains an aura to keep her hovering as the severance of her knees has left her with the inability to stand. She hovers just about how tall she'd stand had she still had them before coming to a stop between the first two silver towers, and once she's able to stop she begins breathing heavily, placing her hand on her chest.
Her face begins wincing in anguish, moving her hands to wipe her face of any tears before they can come, for she was the only member of the team to return. She sniffles but no tears can come out as she's used them all, though by instinct she continues wiping her face, continuing through the motions as if she could cry.
While the streets are practically empty by the battlefield, a fleet of several bus pods descend towards the crater, their bodies black with glowing green accents. In fact, at the end of the street the fleet drives through is the pink dot indicating the one survivor.
Inside the leading bus pod, the bus driver, dressed in a formal suit with similar green accents, is tapped on the shoulder by a man standing beside him with broad shoulders, wearing a bright yellow vest, raising the driver's attention to himself.
While she wipes her face again and again, strands of her pink hair draping beside her, she has her back to the Supersun which oddly begins brightening, although the sunlight reaching the city doesn't change drastically.
But as she sniffles again, lowering her head, the Supersun suddenly expands to about double its size, the center pure white with only the rim still retaining its cyan color, enough to shift the sunlight white to which Kokei perks her head up.
Turning away, she doesn't notice the leader of the bus fleet descend towards her, as her eyes widen upon the sight in the sky.
On the Earth 1 Moon base, sirens blare as holes have been punctured through the ring wall, central tower, and the telescope sitting outside of the wall after having just been used as a battleground. A fleet of black military pods, identified by the white crest to be government vehicles, approach the base after likely having been called.
Inside the ballpoint top of the central tower, teams of officers work on their desks, interfacing with multiple holographic screens. The room itself has several platforms with the central floor having a skeletal frame, and over that platform are a couple rings of tables where officers hastily work under the alarm.
The entire wall displays a window screen to the open cosmos, though half of it is covered by the intimate Supersun. Approaching that half is the only officer not seated, that being the commanding officer strolling down the open aisle.
One of the seated officers raises head towards that commander to announce, "Reinforcements are here, but I'm still not getting any life readings from the intruders. I'm not sure if trying to scan by the sun is causing the scanners to malfunction."
The commander turns to face that officer as the sun in front of them begins to brighten subtly. The commander nods his head and responds, "It might be, but keep at it regardless. Either way, we just recently got this fortress up and running again, we're not going to-," as the Supersun abruptly grows, instantaneously consuming the room, the Moon it's stationed on, and far more.
Elsewhere, inside a prison cell made strangely enough of golden material, sitting on the hovering bed is the former Earth 3 President Richard Gray, dressed in a gray jumpsuit. The cell is fairly small, fitting only himself with the only furniture being that bed and a desk accompanied with a table. Next to the bed is a window screen that provides a view of the city of golden pillars, with other islands visible far in the distance, all of them standing on clouds like heaven. The former president sits on his bed while staring off at the city below the large, brightening Supersun, frowning at the sight of the world he let himself lose out of poor decisions.
His contemplation is interrupted however upon the sight of the Supersun's sudden doubling in size –white with a cyan rim–, causing him to immediately press himself to the window in shock as it now nearly covers the sky. He rubs his eyes in disbelief, only to find the Supersun brightening rapidly more, the rim becoming white too. The flares beaming off consume the rest of the skies as the whole sun's spherical shape distorts, seeming to almost bend as it continues growing without end.
The golden towers scattered across the city brighten immensely, becoming near white and smoking for just a moment before the sun reaches them along with the cell, and he just watches without uttering a sound.
At the center of the old western-style village within the sweltering desert, the old man in the brown haori over the blue hakama stands beside the younger teenage girl wearing the gus hat and red hakama, both of them standing at the edge of the oasis, presumably strolling. They're just deep enough that the water reaches to their ankles, an activity that was relaxing, though they both have paused to stare at the oval Supersun which nearly covers their sky.
As that oval sun entirely covers the skies, some of the wooden village buildings ignite in a blaze, and even the water of the blue oasis starts to release mist. On instinct, both the girl and man turn towards each other and wrap their arms in an embrace, facing away from the sun just a second before it expands to consume them along with their world.
Much further away, in a suburban neighborhood where trees stand among houses and the roads cut through grass plains, a teenage boy walks alone down a driveway from a house, lugging several backpacks with him. He carries the bags to a black SUV identified by the white crest which idles on the driveway, the back door left open as an officer in their navy blue uniform stands by without his weapon attached to his arm, waiting for the boy. The boy is dressed in familiar dark gray sweatpants with a black hoodie sporting a graphic of a flaming emblem emitting frosty mist. His head is visibly bald and has a black mark on the forehead, identifying him as a native of this Earth, Earth 39.
The boy carries the remaining bags –while the Supersun in the sunny sky brightens– to evacuate his family's belongings, and upon getting close to the van, the officer reaches his hands forward to offer help on moving the bags.
The boy extends his arm from which two bags hang from, and the officer grabs straps from both bags to hold just as the Supersun doubles in size, notably brightening the sky.
Both the boy and officer turn towards the supersun curiously, the officer shielding his eyes with his hand. They watch, side by side, as the doubled sun continues to brighten and expand, distorting to an oval shape, and within seconds it grows large enough to nearly cover the sky, so much so that the leaves of certain trees begin to start emitting smoke.
Then, that oval abruptly expands back into a circle that grows even faster, reaching them nearly instantly, incinerating them and the whole world with it.
Standing alone on the edge of the battlefield, Kokei turns around, trying to peer with sharp pink eyes, though she shields them as the Supersun continues to rapidly expand into that same oval shape. She adjusts her eyes, slowly lowering her hands to once again take in the sight just in time to witness that oval to suddenly reshape into an even larger cyan circle, one that expands far faster, getting close to covering the entire sky.
Reaching down by the road, the bus pod reaches the intersection that Kokei hovers over, but even the loud hum of the bus doesn't compel her attention. She remains glued to the sky as the door of the bus opens, and a man swings out into view to face her, a man with blue eyes and a scruffy black beard under the scar on his left cheek.
Noticing the woman alone in the street, Vincent extends his hand towards her and shouts to her, calling for her attention, though he abruptly freezes while speaking, his eyes widening in disbelief to the realization of the survivor's identity.
Only when called directly to, Kokei turns around to face the man calling out to her, hovering off the ground by nature of the swarm of pink lightning arcs that race around her body, supporting her as her knees are no more.
Upon gazing at the man, her pink eyes widen in the same disbelief, raising her head as a gentle breeze blows her long pink hair to the side, letting it wave. On her face is an expression of astonishment, shock in the surprise of the coincidence, but a shock coated in an amazement upon her final revelation, going as far as expressing delight.
At that moment, the Supersun finally bursts, exploding into countless rays that reach the silver metropolis. For just a brief moment, all the silver skyscrapers flare bright white, smoking hot, as do the long strands of pink hair that then ignite on fire, same as her fair gentle skin, setting her ablaze, though she hardly gets the time for the sensation to register. As in the very next instant, the full wave washes through the world, and with it, claims the life of the last standing Bellator, staring back at the man who was once an enemy, a leader of a villainous army that she and the team had to face off to defeat.
If anything else, in that moment she's assured that she truly was among heroes, not only ones who defeated the villains, but inspired new heroes.
Perhaps in the end, she too met her end the way she began, caught in the crossfire, not entirely realizing why she was in the situation she was in.
But like the beginning, she chose to take action, she was not a random bystander, this was the life she took knowing she already had a safer path for herself.
Even if it was to all end like this.
Without reason.
Without warning.
Like the other Earths, Earth 50 is claimed next.
As is Earth 51.
As is Earth 52.
As is Earth 53.
As is Earth 54.
As is Earth 55.
As is Earth 56.
As is Earth 57.
As is Earth 58.
As is Earth 59.
As is Earth 60.
As is Earth 61.
As is Earth 62.
As is Earth 63.
As is Earth 64.
As is Earth 65.
As is Earth 66.
As is Earth 67.
As is Earth 68.
As is Earth 69.
As is Earth 70.
As is Earth 71.
As is Earth 72.
As is Earth 73.
As is Earth 74.
As is Earth 75.
As is Earth 76.
As is Earth 77.
As is Earth 78.
As is Earth 79.
As is Earth 80.
As is Earth 81.
As is Earth 82.
As is Earth 83.
As is Earth 84.
As is Earth 85.
As is Earth 86.
As is Earth 87.
As is Earth 88.
As is Earth 89.
As is Earth 90.
As is Earth 91.
As is Earth 92.
As is Earth 93.
As is Earth 94.
As is Earth 95.
As is Earth 96.
As is Earth 97.
As is Earth 98.
As is Earth 99.
As is Earth 100.
As is all the space beyond.
To the end.
Of infinity.